Shape Fragment Command in PowerPoint 2016 for Mac

Create new shapes that overlap or surround each other using the Fragment command in PowerPoint 2016 for Mac.

Author:Geetesh Bajaj

Product/Version: PowerPoint 2016 for Mac

OS: Mac OS X

Date Created: July 24, 2018Last Updated: July 24, 2018

PowerPoint 2016 for Mac provides five options within the
Merge Shapes gallery. While four of the five options either
remove or retain something, the fifth option known as Fragment finds common ground by keeping everything. Yes, it
discards nothing at all. In fact, it "fragments" each possible division caused by overlapping shapes and turns them into many
small shapes.

You can see examples of the Fragment option in play within Figure 1, below. The three examples on
the top area of the slide are separate shapes placed over each other. The shapes that you see at the bottom of the slide are the same
shapes with the Fragment option applied, resulting in number of small shapes.

Figure 1: Fragment option creates smaller shapes

You really cannot make out the small shapes within Figure 1 above, since all the fragmented shapes are placed
bordering each other. So, we spread out all the new shapes created using the Fragment option in Figure 2, below. The
graphic on the left is the result of using the Fragment option, and the graphic on the right shows the shapes separated apart so that
you can see them all individually.

Figure 2: Fragmented shapes, separated

Here's another example: we placed three basic Circle shapes overlapping each other as shown towards the left of
Figure 3, below. With these shapes selected, we could use the Fragment command that we explain later in
this tutorial to create individual shapes from overlapped area as shown towards the right in Figure 3.

Figure 3: Sample showing use of the Fragment command

Once you finish reading this tutorial, do view the sample presentations embedded on the bottom of this page to see more samples of
shapes that use the Fragment command.

Open a presentation in PowerPoint. Insert two or more shapes on your slide
and select them as shown in Figure 4. As you can see in Figure 4, we have increased the weight of the shape outlines so
that the result of applying Fragment command can be clearly visible. With these shapes selected, select the Shape Format
tab on the Ribbon (highlighted in
blue within Figure 4).

Figure 4: Shape Format tab

Note: The Shape Format tab is a Contextual tab. Contextual tabs are special tabs in the
Ribbon that are not visible all the time. They
only make an appearance when you are working with a particular slide object which can be edited using special options.

Within the Shape Format tab, click the Merge Shapes button (highlighted in red within
Figure 5). This brings up the Merge Shapes gallery as shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5: Merge Shapes gallery

Within the Merge Shapes gallery, click the Fragment option so that the selected shapes are cut out into individual
shapes, as shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6: Previously selected shapes are fragmented

Save your presentation often.

Do remember these guidelines for any tasks that involve the usage of this command. The Fragment command:

Creates new shapes from overlapping area of shapes

Creates new shapes from in-between empty areas

Retains as shapes any areas that do not overlap

Subtracts nothing

Retains formatting of first selected shape

Activity: Do experiment with various shapes that are formatted with fills of different colors. Select one of the shapes,
and then individually select other shapes and click the Fragment command. You will notice that the fragmented shape
takes the formatting of the shape selected first.

The sample presentations below show how we used different shapes placed next to and above each other, and then fragmented.

Feature List 01 (Layout with Tabs)

The Feature List Layout comprises three sample PowerPoint presentations: one each to create a visual list for 4 features, 5 features, and 6 features.
These work great when you have too much information to fit within one slide. This solution lets you use multiple slides, but the visual result is
still that of one single slide!